The Rings of Akhaten

While last week there was the excitement of zooming through London on a quadracycle, this week Doctor Who delivers one of those stories only Who can. A fantastical adventure on the strange alien worlds called the Rings of Akhaten, a group of planetoids circling a gas giant, where The Doctor and Clara stumble upon a cult that worships and sacrifices memories to a god residing within the giant planet. In those opening moments on the planet you could easily believe they’d landed in Mos Eisley, and it’s Doctor Who‘s best display of aliens since “The End of the World.” There’s such fantastic visuals any lover of space porn will dig it. That’s where “The Rings of Akhaten” really shines, as a collection of moments strung together in a stunning, very realized world. It’s shame the final resolution is messy, otherwise it’d be a near flawless episode.

I called it. I knew once filming began for Doctor Who‘s 50th Anniversary special we’d see photos leaked from the set; they just came little sooner than I would have thought. And now we know why the Beeb announcedDavid Tennant, Billie Piper, and the Zygons’ involvement seeing as their traipsing around South Wales for all to see. Below you can check outa few images shot on set from both The Daily Mirror as well as a few amateur paparazzi,

There’s even more at Doctor Who TV. Judging from costumes and the few set pieces there’s speculation this scene takes place in medieval or even Elizabethan England. The Elizabethan thing is even more likely if you check out what Joanna Page is wearing. That plus her curly red hair and you’ve got a very convincing Elizabeth I, dontcha think? Could this be where everything began for The Doctor and Good Queen Bess? Also, you’ll note the TARDIS is on set and with Tennant there but no Matt Smith I’m beginning to think this is the Tenth Doctor proper, not his meta-crisis clone, TenToo.

Hit jump for those Season 7B leaked synopses, plus an introduction to this week’s episode, “The Rings of Akhaten” from Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman.

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